Congress leaders observe ‘Betrayal Day’, list ‘failures’ of Modi govt

He said that Modi claimed that he would bring gangster Dawood Ibrahim to India from Pakistan. “But where is Dawood Ibrahim? Why did you not bring him to India and punish him?”, he asked.

“Modi also failed to remove article 370 for full integration of Jammu and Kashmir in the Indian Union. Instead, the BJP has formed government in J-K with People Democratic Party (PDP) – a separatist outfit. This is really a betrayal of the people’s trust,” Dhanani said. “The fishermen in Gujarat got diesel subsidy during the Congress rule at the Centre. But diesel subsidy has been withdrawn ever since Modi became PM,” said Dhanani, adding, “Are these the good days for fishing community of Gujarat?”.

“The BJP promised to build Ram Temple if it got full majority in the Lok Sabha. But where is the Ram Temple even after four years of BJP coming to power with majority on its own?”, he asked. He said Modi also failed to fix minimum support price (MSP) of agricultural produce by adding 50 per cent profit on input cost. “This has worsened the conditions of the farmers in Gujarat as well as the rest of the country,” Dhanani said.

State Congress president Amit Chavda, addressing the media, said, “Modi had promised appointment of Lokpal to check corruption, provide 2 crore jobs annually and bring black money stashed in foreign banks and deposit Rs 15 lakh in citizens’ accounts but nothing has happened.” “Modi has betrayed the trust of the people in four years of his rule,” alleged Chavda, who is also a five-time MLA.

AICC general in-charge of Gujarat affairs Rajiv Satav said, “The country has witnessed unprecedented suicide of farmers in the last four years due to neglect of agriculture sector.” Satav said, “The government says it has no money to waive off Rs 2 lakh crore of agriculture loans while it has waived off Rs 2,14,000 crore of bank loans belonging to 14 corporate houses.”. Against it, he said, the UPA government had waived off Rs 72,000 crore farmer loans.

The party also released a 44-page booklet titled Vishwasghat: Chaar Saalon Mein Sirf Baat Hi Baat (Betrayal: Only Empty Promises in Four Years). The booklet terms Modi as “anti-farmer” and “anti-women” and claims that farmers’ suicide and crime against women had increased after Modi became PM. According to the booklet, the number of farmers suicide has gone up from 12,360 in 2014-15 to 14,000 in 2017-18. It says that 35 farmers commit suicide in India every day. According to the booklet, the private insurance companies, and not farmers, were benefiting from crop insurance. The agriculture export, according to the booklet, has gone down from 43.23 billion dollars in 2013-14 to 33.87 billion dollars in 2016-17 during Modi’s rule.

The booklet also makes fun of the BJP government, claiming that the business of “paan-pakoras” were seen by the saffron as sources of employment. The booklet also mentions the “mysterious growth in the wealth of sons of BJP president Amit shah and Union minister Piyush Goyal since Modi became PM. It says Modi’s “Make in India” slogan has completely flopped.

Meanwhile, Congress leaders in Vadodara staged a protest in the old city area, releasing black helium balloons. Chanting anti-BJP slogans, the Vadodara Congress leaders attacked the government over the rising fuel prices as well as other “failures” of the Modi-led government at the Centre.